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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27953585">Explorations in Communication</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/damntrobed/pseuds/damntrobed'>damntrobed</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Community (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, One Shot, This is so soft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:14:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,575</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27953585</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/damntrobed/pseuds/damntrobed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Pillows and Blankets, Troy and Abed need to talk.</p>
<p>very short little one shot about what happened after the notorious pillows and blankets war of greendale.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Troy Barnes &amp; Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>113</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Explorations in Communication</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivyaugust/gifts">Ivyaugust</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>for jules, who has done more for me lately than i could ever repay her for.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Troy and Abed had made up, in theory.</p>
<p>They had shaken each other’s hands, and given half-meaningful apologies, done all the things you normally do when you make up with someone.</p>
<p>But they hadn’t.  Not really.</p>
<p>For the next few days following, things had felt off. They weren’t making as many jokes, Troy had “accidentally” fallen asleep on the couch the last three nights, and they hadn’t used the Dreamatorium at all.</p>
<p>Troy and Abed had made up, but they hadn’t.</p>
<p>Troy’s sitting in their living room, leg bouncing rapidly while he thinks long and hard about how he’s going to bring it up to Abed when he comes home. Annie had given him a sad smile as she left for the weekend, visiting family out of town, leaving Troy and Abed alone in the palpable tension. Well, just Troy. Abed had been gone all day, dodging Troy’s calls and not answering his texts.</p>
<p>Troy runs his hands over his face and through his hair, feeling tears well up in his eyes but he just shakes his head, trying to will them away.</p>
<p>“Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.” he whispers to himself. “He’s not going to take you seriously if you cry.” he sniffs hard, wiping at his eyes, jumping a little at the sound of the key in the lock. He stands up and wipes his palms on his jeans, now suddenly clammy.</p>
<p>When Abed walks in, he looks at Troy quietly. “Hi, Troy.” he says, setting his messenger bag down by the door and closing it behind him, putting his keys gently on the hook.</p>
<p>“Abed, we need to talk.” Troy says, looking at his shoes and trying to keep his voice as even as possible.</p>
<p>“About?” Abed asks, sitting on a barstool opposite Troy. Troy sits back down on the couch, and as soon as he does he can’t get his legs to stop shaking, no matter how hard he presses his hands down into his knees, so he just sighs and tries to get his thought process back on track.</p>
<p>“I know that we made up, after everything, but I think I still have some…” he closes his eyes as he tries to remember what Annie called it when they were talking. “Unresolved issues.” he supplies, and he feels like the room is on fire, and he can’t get rid of the lump in his throat.</p>
<p>Abed just nods slowly, face blank. “Do you have an example?”</p>
<p>Troy feels the tears creeping up again, so he wipes his eyes aggressively and clears his throat. “You said some really mean things, Abed. And they really hurt my feelings, and I don’t think I’ve gotten over that yet.” A tear gets past his eyes, and he sniffs hard and keeps his face pointed at his lap, not daring to let Abed see him crying yet again.</p>
<p>“‘Hey, dick. Read your dumb email. Really enjoyed it. Guess what?’” Abed starts saying mechanically, and Troy can’t really stop the tears anymore. He knows where this is heading, and that it won’t end early. “‘You may have been my best friend, but we both know I was your <em>first</em> friend. And what I know but you <em>don’t</em> know because you have <em>mental issues</em> is that you’re never going to have another friend. Because, all caps, nobody else will ever have my patience with you.’” Abed spits some of those words at Troy like poison.</p>
<p>“Abed-”</p>
<p>“The things I put in my email were things you were never supposed to see. It was wrong, and I shouldn’t have done it, I know that now. But it was analytical. What you sent…” Abed won’t even look at Troy.</p>
<p>“Was also wrong. I was <em>really</em> upset. I had just read that my best friend didn’t think I was smart, and that I was too emotional, and-” Troy can’t finish, because he’s too busy trying to wipe his eyes and keep his breaths even.</p>
<p>The air in between them is heavy, and Troy just wants all of it to go away, he regrets even bringing it up.</p>
<p>Abed is about to speak, but Troy cuts him off without knowing. “I thought you understood me. But you were just building it up to use it against me later on. It wasn’t right and it isn’t tr-”</p>
<p>“Troy that wasn’t what I said.” Abed stops him, standing up.</p>
<p>Troy looks up at him, wiping at his face hard and trying to look like he’s not falling apart more and more with each passing second. “Yes, it is, I have it right here-”</p>
<p>“What <em>I </em>said was that <em>you</em> were insecure about those things. None of it had anything to do with how I felt about you.” Abed says, and Troy thinks he sees Abed’s eyes glisten with tears. “I would never say those things about my best friend. Never.” Abed’s voice is tight with emotion, like he has to force the words out of his lungs for Troy to hear them.</p>
<p>Troy doesn’t know what to say, besides letting out a small <em>oh</em>, looking back at his lap. He hears Abed sit back down, and he thinks he hears a small sniffle, but he’s too embarrassed to pick his head up to check.</p>
<p>“What you sent, Troy, really hurt me. But I know you didn’t mean it.” Abed says, voice wet. “Right?”</p>
<p>“No, no, of course I didn’t mean it.” Troy says, picking his head up quickly, catching Abed wiping a tear from his eye. “I was just…<em>angry</em>, Abed, really angry, and now I know that I was angry for the wrong reasons, for the wrong thing, but I didn’t mean it <em>at all</em>.” Troy stands up slowly, legs wobbly, and he sits in the barstool next to Abed. “Please believe me.” Troy says quietly.</p>
<p>Abed just nods, and after a couple more minutes of heavy silence, he reaches out gingerly for Troy’s hand. Troy laces their fingers together and rubs his thumb on the back of Abed’s hand, using his other hand to wipe at his eyes and nose.</p>
<p>“For the record,” Abed says, his voice sounding a little more raw than in the beginning. “I don’t think you’re emotionally frail. Or less intelligent than everyone else. Those are things you’ve been conditioned to think by the people around you, but it’s not true.” Abed takes a deep breath in, and Troy is crying quietly, trying to keep his shaking to a minimum. “I think you’re really emotionally intelligent, and very in-tune with those emotions and how it affects you. This would be a good example of that.” Abed says, gesturing vaguely at the space in front of them, referencing the conversation. “And you <em>are</em> smart. You’re just smart in different ways than everyone else, and they don’t always see that. They’re not <em>flaws,</em> Troy. They’re your greatest strengths.”</p>
<p>Troy sniffs again, and he feels Abed reach over and wipe his eyes for him with the edge of his cardigan. “That means a lot.” he says quietly, squeezing Abed’s hand a little. When he feels Abed squeeze back, he sighs. “You still want to be best friends, right?”</p>
<p>“Of course I do.” Abed says, using his free hand to pick Troy’s chin up. “I’m sorry, for the things that I said. We got into a really dumb fight, and it escalated things too far, but that’s not an excuse for my actions. I’m really sorry.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, too.” Troy says, trying to look back down at his lap but Abed won’t let him. “I shouldn’t have said those things, no matter how upset I was. It’s not an excuse, I’m not looking for an out, I just need you to know that none of it was true. I need you, way more than you could ever need me.”</p>
<p>“That’s not true. I need you just as much as you need me. That’s why this works so well. We’re a perfect match.” Abed says, sliding in closer to Troy.</p>
<p>“Perfect match.” Troy nods, giving him a small, sad smile. He’s looking at Abed, who’s still thumbing tears away from his eyes, now with his hand cupped on the side of his face.</p>
<p>Abed looks at him for a moment, eyes boring into him in a way that Troy recognizes as him thinking deeply. Then he leans in and pulls Troy into a tight hug, clutching the back of Troy’s shirt with both fists. “I love you.” he says quietly.</p>
<p>Troy wraps his arms around Abed, closing his eyes tight to let some tears fall. “I love you, too.” Troy whispers back, and he finally lets himself cry, for real, as Abed rubs his back and scratches his head gently.</p>
<p>He keeps crying as Abed moves them to the blanket fort and into bed, where he’s curled into Abed’s chest. He cries as he feels the tightness in his chest and the lump in his throat dissipate, he cries as Abed whispers <em>i love you</em>s to him and places small kisses on the crown of his head, and he cries as Abed starts to cry, too, because both of them have been carrying far more weight on their shoulders the last few days than they’d like to admit.</p>
<p>When he finally stops crying, having run out of tears, he holds Abed in his arms and promises to never let him go.</p>
<p>Troy and Abed made up, for real this time.</p>
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